Jesus summed up God’s law when he said; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”

I know I break God’s holy law daily because I don’t fully love him and give him first place in my life and I don’t always or fully love my neighbor as myself.

The Golden Rule is a good one to live by as well; “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The world would be a much better place if we all lived by God’s commands given long ago, but still good for us today.

In the Gospel reading for today we hear;

Luke 16:10-17 (18) – 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

When you look at your checkbook register or bank statement what do you discover? What do you give highest priority? What place does God have in how you spend the money entrusted to you?

I’ll be balancing my checkbook later, I’ll be asking myself these questions as I do so. One thing I strive to do is write my tithe check unto God off the top. When I get my paycheck, it’s one of the first things I do. That’s one way I strive to be faithful. Yet when I look at my spending habits I find that my personal comfort ranks really high amongst my giving to help others who are hurting and in need.

Psalm 130 –3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

O Lord, thanks for your commandments given to guide my life, given to help me fully live life. Forgive me when I put myself first above you and above loving my neighbor. Thanks for guiding me back to your ways. Thanks for giving us Jesus Christ, who showed us what life is to be all about. May we trust in you, love you and seek to obey you in all we think, say and do this day. Amen.